


Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome

by queenitsy



Series: Wildcats [2]
Category: High School Musical
Genre: Embarrassment, F/M, Misunderstanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-12
Updated: 2009-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-12 05:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/121544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenitsy/pseuds/queenitsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sharpay decides to seduce Zeke, Chad jumps to an impulsive conclusion, and Ryan amuses himself at other people's expenses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, as always, to [](http://poisonivory.livejournal.com/profile)[**poisonivory**](http://poisonivory.livejournal.com/), [](http://harmonyangel.livejournal.com/profile)[**harmonyangel**](http://harmonyangel.livejournal.com/), [](http://second-batgirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**second_batgirl**](http://second-batgirl.livejournal.com/), and [](http://magickalmolly.livejournal.com/profile)[**magickalmolly**](http://magickalmolly.livejournal.com/).

  
Sharpay breezed into the bakery, all smiles and flash. She had one goal: Zeke Baylor.

He'd been avoiding her, and she had no idea why. But he was basically the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. And he was funny -- wry and cynical, but hilarious -- and he _baked_. Every single time they'd gone out, he'd greeted her with another delicious homemade good.

They hadn't made it past second base. It was like he had a freaking curfew or something; they'd go out, have a good time, and then... He'd kiss her goodnight, and hightail it away. She got that he wasn't the most experienced guy in the world with dating and sex and things, but he'd been eager enough when they were making out. And she knew that it was just Zeke and his dad, and that he had a lot of responsibilities at the bakery _and_ that he _felt_ responsible for his dad, but there was also something else going on.

The only thing she could think of to explain why he'd started ducking her calls and always vanished was that he just wasn't that in to her. And that was not acceptable.

So she let herself into the bakery with one goal: get in Zeke Baylor's pants. She zeroed in on her target immediately. As always, Zeke was standing behind the main display, scribbling in a notebook, with one of his textbooks open next to him. And also as always, he looked like he'd just walked out of the kitchen, lightly dusted in confectioner's sugar she badly wanted to lick off.

He looked up at the noise of the welcome bells. She put a hand on her hip and smiled.

"Sharpay!" He dropped his pen and straightened up. "Hey. I wasn't expecting you to... What can I do for you? Looking for anything in particular?"

"Mm," she agreed, and put a little extra saunter in her step as she walked towards the counter. "I want something sweet. And delicious. To go."

He was too smart not to hear the innuendo when she used _that_ voice. But he just raised his eyebrows. "Crème brulee?" he suggested.

"I was thinking something a little more..." She jumped up on the counter, folded one leg over her other, and ran a hand down his arm. "Filling."

He laughed and stepped out of her grip. "Oh, well, uh..." He bit his lip. "That sounds more like a meal than a dessert. Maybe dinner?"

"Definitely dinner," she agreed. "And after?"

"I can bake for you." He grinned.

"So you'll be at my place? That sounds great." She took his hand and drew circles on his palm with her thumb. "And you'll be staying? I bet you make great pancakes, too."

He laughed, but ducked out of her grip. "I don't know, I've got an early class tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is Saturday," she reminded him.

"At the dojo. That I _teach,_ " he answered. "It's all the way across town, and the bus -- "

"I'll give you a ride."

"Early morning, on a Saturday? Wouldn't you rather sleep in?"

"Some things are worth waking up for. And my parents are out of town." She actually batted her eyelashes, and pulled out the big guns. At least, big guns when it came to Zeke Baylor. " _And_ my dad is a coffee addict, we must have _dozens_ of fancy blends. Oooh, there's this one from Italy -- "

"Shar, come on." He was still chuckling as he spoke, but he no longer sounded amused. "I can't. Between the class, and Dad -- I mean, he gets up at 5 AM to get things started in the kitchen, and no one else gets here until, like, 8. And when he spends the night alone, I just feel like -- "

"Zeke, he's an adult. He's perfectly capable of working alone for a few hours, and spending the night by himself? Not a big deal."

"Funny, coming from you, considering this conversation."

"Do you just not like me?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Is that what this is about? Because I -- I really do appreciate that you won't just sleep with me, if that's what it is, but just tell me. And I'll stop bothering you."

"No!" he said quickly, and actually grabbed her hand. "No, Sharpay. It's not you. You're -- wow." He glanced down at her and flushed. "I just... Things around here are... And my dad." He shrugged.

She softened a little bit. He really was very sweet, and if his father needed him... Then again, his father _was_ an adult, and from what Sharpay had seen while hanging around the bakery, he didn't seem especially needy. She considered, then hopped off the counter. "One second."

He gaped as she walked right past the counter and let herself into the kitchen. "Shar -- "

"Mr. Baylor!"

Zeke's dad -- and the two other bakers who worked there -- turned to stare at her. Mr. Baylor raised his eyebrows, and for a second looked exactly like his son, despite the fact that Zeke apparently took after his mother much more strongly.

He walked over to her, wiping his hands on his apron, and said, "Hey. What can I do for you?"

"Well..." She glanced over her shoulder. Zeke looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I was hoping -- I mean, if you can spare him -- I was hoping you would consider giving Zeke a night off. I know he really likes to be here to help you open in the morning -- and close at night -- and he'd never ask you himself. So I'm asking for him."

Mr. Baylor looked back at his son, too, and an extremely amused smile crept across his face. "You want to take out Zeke? As in... _out_ -out, out of the bakery, not working, actually relaxing and having fun?"

She nodded.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to convince him to take some time off?"

She clapped, delighted. "You mean he can have the night?"

"Take him! With my blessing!"

"Dad -- "

"Ezekiel." His father's voice went serious. "Even your mother took nights off sometimes, son. If you don't let yourself have fun, you'll forget what you're working _for._ "

"But -- "

"And do you really want to disappoint this lovely young lady?"

"Now you're just being creepy."

"Go." His father made a shooing motion. "Enjoy yourself for a change."

Zeke ducked his head. "Fine."

She squealed and clapped her hands. Getting her way was _so_ delightful. Especially when getting her way meant _finally_ getting Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome.

\--

Chad -- in costume as Go -- stood in the shadow at the corner and frowned. "Tay? What time is it?"

"Twelve-oh-four," she answered.

He tapped his foot impatiently. "Okay, and is it me, or does that make Frappe four whole minutes late?"

Taylor laughed. "There's a first time for everything. Even Frappe being late. He's probably -- "

As if he'd sensed their discussion, Frappe's voice cut into their communicator channel. "Go?"

"Frappe! Dude, where _are_ you? What's -- "

"I can't make it tonight." His voice was low, whispering, and he sounded out of breath. Definitely nervous, which was weird. Chad could barely think of anything that would make Frappe freak out, and _nothing_ short of death that would keep him from a patrol. "Can you handle patrol alone?"

"Yeah, but -- "

"Okay, I've got to go."

"Wait!" Chad yelped. "Where are you? What's wrong? What -- "

"Frappe out."

Frappe's comm went silent, and Chad tapped his foot again. "Taylor? Is it me, or does that sound really suspicious? Like he was afraid of being overheard?"

"That doesn't mean -- "

"I'm serious! Frappe's more reliable than death and taxes. If he's not here and can't explain why, then something must be wrong. Can you track his communicator?"

"I... well, yes," she said. "But I don't think that's a good idea. He barely agreed to take the comm to begin with, and we swore we'd never track it unless we had no choice."

She had a point. When they'd formed the team, Bolt and Strawberry had taken the communicators without a second thought, but Frappe had turned it into a giant argument. Obviously, Taylor could track where they went, and Frappe didn't trust her not to, and didn't want her to figure out his identity.

"Let's ask the others," Chad said. "Bolt? Strawberry?"

"Sup?" Bolt replied, as Taylor pulled them into the conversation.

"You tell me: Frappe sent me a two-second message that he can't patrol tonight and disappeared. No explanation."

"Is he dying?" Bolt asked.

"That's what I'm worried about!" Chad said, then, "One sec." He saw a mugging about to take place and stopped short in front of the guy, tripped him, and said to the potential victim, "Dude, you've got a $50 bill hanging out of your back pocket, could you maybe not make this so easy for people looking for crimes of opportunity? Yeesh." To the mugger, "It's your lucky night, dude, I'm kind of in a hurry. So say you're sorry and run away."

The mugger stared at him.

"I'm waiting. You've got three seconds. Two -- "

The mugger ran. So much for common politeness. Chad shrugged at the victim and said, "Be careful, okay? Peace out." And he took off again.

"Go?" Now Strawberry was on the comm.

"Sorry, back. So I think something's hinky, and Frappe wouldn't call out of patrol unless he's in trouble. If he was okay, he'd let us know what happened, right?"

"Well..." Strawberry said, then, "He did let us know about that time his bike broke down and he was running late..."

"If one of you can come cover our half of the city, I'll look into finding Frappe," Chad said.

"Okay," Strawberry finally said, after a short pause during which Chad could hear her and Bolt murmuring to each other off-comm. Chad knew they preferred to patrol together, often hand-in-hand. They were a little nauseating that way, but he figured it only bothered him because he couldn't really do that with Taylor. "I'll take your route. Tay, can you tell him where to look?"

"Guys," Taylor said, "I want you all to think, just for a few seconds. We don't _know_ he's in trouble. I can give you a general area to check if you insist, but I'm not sure it's warranted."

"I think we need to," Bolt said. "I mean, if you can't count on the team to have your back, what's the point of the team at all?"

"Agreed," Chad said.

"Yeah," Strawberry said.

"Fine," Taylor said. "But I am _so_ not taking the blame if this turns out to be nothing and Frappe gets pissed."

"He won't get pissed if he needs a rescue," Chad said.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. When he made that call in, he was... Well, that's odd."

"What?"

"He was pretty far from his stomping groups -- all the way over in the Mansion Land."

Chad skidded on his heel and turned around. That _was_ odd. Mansion Land was the less-than-affectionate nickname for the area of Duke City where the wealthiest people lived. From what few hints Frappe had given them about his private life, he was born and raised in the Heights, which meant he probably didn't have a lot of reason to hang out in Mansion Land.

"Let me know if you can give me somewhere to focus," Chad said. "I'm there." And he _was_ there already, eyes open, looking for any sign of his missing friend.

\--

Ryan threw himself down on the couch, annoyed. He supported his sister in everything. He _definitely_ supported her pursuit of Zeke Baylor, who was downright charming as well as gorgeous. Not that Ryan was biased or anything, just because most of the guys she dated were kind of freaked out by him, where Zeke took all of Ryan's campiness in stride.

So he was glad Sharpay was finally going to have her wicked way with him. Really.

He just did not appreciate the sexiling. Ryan's date had canceled at the last second, so he had nowhere in particular to go, and Sharpay had only paused between the door and the staircase to inform him she needed the _entire_ upstairs floor of the house, apparently. Zeke had barely had time to wave hello before she'd dragged him upstairs.

They hadn't come down since. Ryan was willing to be they were having a lot of fun, though. But dateless and bitchy about it, he just kind of resented the whole thing. That was fair, right? He was pretty sure it was.

Nothing was on TV, so he stuck on _Hello, Dolly!_ , grabbed some rice cakes, and sulked. He loved the movie, but sitting around in the living room while his sister got laid was just not satisfying.

"'Scuse me, Ryan?"

He turned around to see one of their security guards sticking his head into the room. Having guards around was weird, but his parents had decided to up their security after that unfortunate birthday party incident.

"What's up?" Ryan asked.

"We just had an alarm go off at the edge of the property -- wanted to make sure you were okay, hadn't seen anything."

He shook his head, and, deciding that was at least _mildly_ more interesting than his nine thousandth time through the movie -- not that Babs ever lost her charm -- asked, "Can I look at the tape?"

The guard hesitated, but finally said, "Sure. I guess."

"Cool." Ryan shot him a smile, rolled his eyes when the guy wasn't dazzled by it, and followed him back to the wing of the house they'd turned into security command central. Which meant they had the monitors set up, and there was usually at least one guard sitting around, drinking coffee and playing solitaire on the computer.

The guard sat down and pointed to one of the monitors. "I don't see anything. It was probably, like, a squirrel or something setting it off."

"Yeah," Ryan said, as he watched. The tape didn't show anything at all at first glance, but the guard rewound it again and went through it in slow motion. Still nothing, except -- "Can you back that up a second, and freeze it?"

The guard gave him a skeptical look, but did it. And right at the edge of the frame -- one single frame, that was it -- he saw a sort of person-shaped shadow. And the very bottom of a red boot.

He grinned slowly. Red boots, and too quick to catch on film? He had no idea why Go would be running around his house, but Ryan wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, either. His night had just gotten a _lot_ more interesting.

"Probably just a squirrel," he said, and hurried out.

\--

"I'm into the security cameras through most of Mansion Land. Nice of them all to organize things so well."

Chad looked through the area again. "You seeing anything I'm not?"

"Nope. You did trip an alarm, by the way, dear."

"Yeah, where?"

"Get this: Vance and Derby Evans' mansion."

"Evans? Of _course_ they live here." He looped back. "Directions?"

"What do you have in mind, Chad?"

"Come on. That family is in the middle of _everything,_ and you know it. They're too rich for their own good."

"So?"

"So you don't think they warrant a closer look?"

Taylor sighed, and Chad knew it was very intentional, because she didn't actually need to exhale anymore. "King Street, back two blocks."

Zip, and there he was. Though the Evans' mansion had its own block, essentially. The house was enormous, and the rest of the land was gorgeous, perfectly landscaped with acres of lawns, manicured hedges, and a freaking _orchard_ out behind the pool.

"Can you keep the security from going off again while I take a look?"

"Sure. I don't know why you think you're going to find anything, though."

"Just call it a gut feeling."

"Whatever. You're safe, security-wise. There are people in the house, though, but no cameras inside. So you're on your own."

"I'll be careful."

He did a few loops around the property, looking for anything out of the ordinary for a mansion, whatever that could mean, but didn't spot any weirdness. There were a bunch of cars in the garage, which didn't help him estimate who was home -- that family had to own at least a dozen cars between them -- and bunches of lights were on. What a terrible way to treat the environment.

"Chad, I _really_ don't think this is a good idea -- "

"I'm just going to go in," he said. "Do a quick run through the house, make sure nothing weird is happening there. If I don't find anything I'll back off, promise."

"I'm holding you to that. Back door is open for you."

"Great!" He sped around and in, tore through a back hallway and --

\-- crashed directly into an armchair that blocked the entire hall. It only took a split second for him to recover, really, though it would have been enough for him to show up on camera, if there had been one around. Luckily, Taylor promised there wasn't. But what the hell was a chair doing there, anyway?

"You could have just rung the bell."

Chad froze about a quarter of an inch from the blond who'd stepped into the hall as he stumbled. They were just about nose to nose. Chad danced backwards, and to his great annoyance, the blond didn't even flinch.

"Um, hello, citizen," Chad said.

Blondie leaned against the wall. "Hello, guy who's breaking into my house. What's up?"

"I, uh, I'm not breaking in, exactly."

The blond glanced past him at the back door. "I'm pretty sure that used to be locked."

"Wasn't when I got here." Technically speaking, anyway. _Taylor_ had unlocked it.

"So you decided to just come on in, Goldilocks-style? I think we're all out of porridge. Though if you're looking for a bed, mine is just right." He smirked.

Something about this guy seemed weirdly familiar. Chad racked his brain; he knew the Evanses had twins, one with a weird dog-name -- Shih-Tzu? -- and the other with some name that seemed way too normal for the family. Normal enough that Chad had forgotten it.

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

"Uh huh. So... what _does_ bring you here, Go? I mean, I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt, since you did help out with that whole birthday party debacle, but seriously. No supervillains here that I know of."

"Why is this chair here?" Chad asked instead of answering.

"I was redecorating."

Chad made a point of looking around the hall. "I'm not sure it goes."

Shrug. "You want to carry it out to the garage for me? Using all those incredibly well-defined muscles of yours?"

"Do you hit on _every_ guy like this?"

"Do you often break into people's houses?"

"Look," Chad said quickly, "not that I'm not enjoying bantering with you, uh, citizen -- "

"Ryan," Taylor supplied in his ear.

"-- Ryan," Ryan said.

"Yeah, Ryan, whatever. Not that I'm not enjoying myself, but I'm kind of in a hurry. And that chair," he pointed accusingly at it, "is rather suspicious."

Ryan peered at it. "The floral pattern is kind of ugly, but suspicious, really?"

"Suspiciously _placed!_ You knew I was coming."

"You set off the security alarm."

"Well, I..." Chad crossed his arms. "Have you seen anything weird around your neighborhood recently? We kind of got a distress call. I'm just taking a look around."

"Distress call?" Ryan actually looked concerned. "Seriously? In this neighborhood?"

"Sort of. It's -- I can't exactly go into detail. You haven't seen anything?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, but if it's actually serious, yeah, look around the house. There's a security guard in the east wing, but that's it. No one upstairs or anything."

"I will, thanks."

Ryan stood aside and gestured. Chad took off, glancing back momentarily. Ryan was peering after him, and followed at normal, human pace a second later. Which was fine. It was his house, after all.

"That was mildly disastrous," Taylor commented. She must have been fiddling with her voice program recently, because the dry amusement came through perfectly.

"Not one word," Chad said.

"What would I say?"

"Just don't." He finished his round of the main floor and dashed up the stairs. No one was there, so he checked each room. And okay, yes, some of that was curiosity -- the master bedroom was gorgeous, and larger than his entire apartment, he was pretty sure. He could also pick out Ryan's room, very tastefully decorated (and yes, the bed looked pretty freaking comfortable, not that he thought about it for more than split second).

Only one room was locked, he discovered. And there were definitely people behind it.

People who, Ryan Evans had said, shouldn't be there.

Busting open doors was sort of his specialty, Taylor hadn't gotten any further than, "Cha -- " when it came down.

But he froze dead still when he saw the people in bed.

Naked.

Naked people in bed. In what was obviously a girl's bedroom, which made sense, since one of the Evans' kids was a girl, and yeah, that was probably her, there, naked with that guy.

"What the _fuck?_ " she demanded, and snatched up a sheet.

The guy just stared. And then narrowed his eyes.

Chad cleared his throat. "Wow, this was a huge misunderstanding. You're going to laugh when you hear -- "

Actually, someone was laughing already. He turned around and saw Ryan standing just down the hall, collapsing against the wall, he was laughing so hard.

"I'll kill him," the girl snarled.

And, from the guy, "Get. The hell. _Out._ "

That sounded like a really good plan. Chad fled, leaving the entire mansion behind in the blink of an eye.

"Chad?"

"Not _one word_ , Taylor."

"You didn't get a very good look at the guy, did you?"

He hadn't. He'd been kind if distracted by the whole... everything, and also, staring at people caught in the act was pretty rude. Especially after having interrupted them so fantastically.

"No. Why?"

"Nothing. No reason."

Chad did another lap around the neighborhood. "Any word from Frappe?"

"I think," Taylor mused, "he's probably okay after all."

\--

It was 3 AM before Zeke had a chance to grab his communicator, in the privacy of Sharpay's bajillion-square-foot bathroom. She was dozing and he was planning to join her, but something had to be dealt with first.

"Taylor, what the honest to god _fuck?_ " he hissed.

"So not my fault!" she protested. "I knew this was going to happen. I _told_ them -- "

"I'm going to crush this freaking tracker as soon as I'm -- "

"Wait!" she interrupted. "I wasn't -- no one was _tracking_ you, seriously. Go freaked out and thought you'd probably been kidnapped, were in big trouble or something, and everyone else backed him up and outvoted me. He ended up at the Evans' by mistake because he recognized the name, figured they were nothing but trouble, and he _still_ hasn't put together who he walked in on."

"Uh huh."

"I'm serious. You've patrolled with him enough to know he doesn't always think before he acts."

"Always? Or ever?" Zeke muttered. "Put me through to him so I can kick his ass."

"No," she said. "Because he sincerely _does not know_ who you are. You really want to tell him, just so you can yell at him?"

"How do I know that's true?" he demanded. "How do I know _anything_ you've said is true? Obviously you're tracking this goddamn communicator, so -- "

"Not as a matter of habit or anything! Look, I thought Go was overstating the danger, yes, but even I could not have guessed where you were and what... what we were interrupting. And if you ever _are_ in actual trouble..."

"And I'm just supposed to trust you?"

"We _are_ on the same team, Frappe. The whole point is work together. And, for the record, that means that if you need a night off, you've got plenty of people to cover for you, in a way that, when done right, would mean you can get laid _without_ the cavalry showing up to, uh, help."

He let his head thunk back against the wall. On the one hand, he just had trouble with the idea of anyone knowing his identity -- he knew the other Wildcats were all good people, all just as devoted to fighting crime as he was. They were all perfectly trustworthy if, it turned out, overenthusiastic. And having people that devoted watching his back had to be a good thing overall. He just hated the idea of people knowing who he was, the kind of danger that could put his father in.

"Just tell them I checked in, okay? I'll think about the rest."

"Okay. Have a nice night. If we didn't manage to ruin it."

"Ha," he muttered, and shut the communicator back off. He buried it in his backpack and made his way back out.

Sharpay opened one eye. "If you come up with an excuse to leave now -- "

"Nope." He slid under the covers. "No, I'm all yours tonight."

"Mmm." She cuddled up next to him and kissed his shoulder sleepily. "Been a weird night. We'll have to try again soon."

Taylor's team suggestion started to sound a lot better when Sharpay kissed his neck, her hand splaying across his chest.

Maybe she wasn't sleepy after all.

Maybe he wasn't, either.

\--

Chad arrived at their patrol at exactly 12:00:01. Frappe was already waiting, sitting on his motorcycle, not looking terribly thrilled. Chad held out his peace offering: a very large mug of coffee. Taylor had told Frappe about what had happened, and Frappe was not amused.

Frappe eyed it, and then him, and then grabbed it testily.

"I was _worried,_ " Chad said. "Don't be mad!"

"I am taking a night off," Frappe said icily, "two weeks from tonight. I have," he over enunciated the words, "a personal thing going on."

"Okay!" Chad said quickly. "Got it. Right."

"Okay, then." Frappe glanced over at him. "Don't think I don't appreciate the concern."

"I figured you just appreciate the coffee."

"That, too." He took a swig. "Well, come on. It's 12:02. We'd better get going."

Chad laughed. "And Taylor wondered why I thought you being four minutes late meant there was something wrong..."

Frappe chugged most of the coffee, said, "Whatever," and brought his roaring monster of a bike to life. Chad jogged at its side.

"So... where were you last night, anyway?"

And he wondered why Taylor laughed in his ear.


End file.
